One of the great things about the Internet is that it allows everyone to express and opinion on whatever topic they desire. One of the bad things about the Internet is it allows anyone to express an opinion on whatever they desire, regardless of whether they have any authority to do so.

I was debating whether I would write on this topic as it can be somewhat controversial as some people may view it as a censorship on free speech. I’m actually all for people being allowed to express themselves but as readers we need to be really careful about who’s advice we listen to and adopt in our businesses.

For example, the other day I was having a really “vigorous debate” in a forum about monetising domain traffic. The person I was debating was very outspoken and to be quite honest with you at times insulting and sarcastic. In the end I found out they did about thirty cents a day in traffic revenue. If you didn’t know this then you could be mistaken into thinking they were an authority on their topic and earning millions of dollars per year.

There’s a really good saying which goes somewhat like the following, “By their fruit you shall know them.” This means that you should look at what a person does and has achieved rather than just what they say. On the Internet anyone can speak but very few people can do.